Awful at being Subtle
by Manic Pixie
Summary: Oneshot; Percy/Nico  "Perseus Jackson, if you don't get up and go tell Nico di Angelo that you've got a friggin' crush on him, I'll – I'll – I don't know what I'll do, but by Apollo, it'll be painful!"


_**Title: **_(Awful at being) Subtle

**Summary: **[Oneshot, Percy/Nico] "Perseus Jackson, if you don't get up and go tell Nico di Angelo that you've got a friggin' crush on him, I'll – I'll – I don't know what I'll do, but by Apollo, it'll be painful!"

**Characters** **(Pairings Indicated with a /):** Percy/Nico, Rachel

**Rating: **G

**Word Count: **1027

**Beta: **The lovely and talented Kahlan the Dream Spirit. She has poked, prodded, and kicked me whenever I needed it. This is for you, dearie~

**Warnings: **Male/male relationship, a.k.a. slash, yaoi, shounen ai, whatever.

**A/N: ***looks around the slashier side of the PJO fandom with wide eyes and decides I like it* Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Percy Jackson and his cronies belong to Rick Riordan, who seems to be firmly convinced that Percy and Annabeth belong together. I own nothing of them, except my copies of the books, and no money is being made off this piece of fanfiction.

oOo

It's a beautiful day at Camp Half-Blood , Percy thinks as he sits on the beach, leaning up against a rock. The sky is a vibrant shade of blue usually only found in paint, and there is just a hint of a breeze. The ocean's waves come crashing onto the shore as usual, but there's a certain laziness about them, as though Poseidon is taking a bit of a rest. There are no monsters to fight; no evil Titan lords to vanquish. In short, it is a perfect, peaceful day...

_"Percy!" _

Percy groans inwardly as he hears Rachel calling him. So much for it being peaceful.

"Percy Jackson!" Again, Percy ignores her in favor of watching the waves. Maybe she'll think he's not around...

"Perseus Jackson, if you don't respond _right now-_" Rachel trails off ominously, so Percy groans aloud and accepts his defeat.

"I'm over here!" he calls back unhappily, wondering if she'll just leave well enough alone and not bug him about _that._

Rachel appears from the other side of the rock Percy's hiding behind. "There you are," she says. "I've been looking for you for the last hour! You missed lunch."

"I'm not hungry," says Percy. His traitorous stomach begs to differ and growls loudly at that exact moment. Rachel gives him her 'Percy-Jackson-you-are-such-a-bad-liar' look that she had to have stolen from Annabeth.

"I wasn't hungry _then_," he amends, because it is true that he hadn't noticed hunger until about ten minutes previously.

"Percy," Rachel sighs and sinks down in the sand next to him. "When are you going to get out of this funk?"

Percy shrugs, but doesn't respond. Rachel presses harder. "Everyone's noticed. Are you just gonna try to avoid the issue around everyone in camp? 'Cause that won't work. They're terrible gossips." She sniffs disdainfully, as though she hasn't been the main cause of all the gossip at Camp.

"I'll get over this soon enough," is all Percy gives as an answer. It's all he's given as an answer every time they've had this conversation, and usually it makes Rachel shut up. But, alas, not today.

"You're an idiot," Rachel says almost angrily. "You think that you're going to get over this? It's been a month since you first said that!"

"Drop it," Percy says in a low, dangerous voice that would make most people back away as fast as they could. However, Rachel is not most people. Instead, she stands up. The sunlight makes her head look as though it is on fire, and her eyes seem to glow.

"Perseus Jackson, if you don't get up and go tell Nico di Angelo that you've got a friggin'crush on him, I'll – I'll – I don't know what I'll do, but by Apollo, it'll be painful!"

This makes Percy get up and hasten towards Camp Half-Blood . When Rachel swears by Apollo, bad things tend to happen to those who do not obey her wishes.

-.-.-.-

Of course, now that Percy _wants_ to find Nico, the son of Hades is nowhere to be seen. This qualifies as a bad thing, as Percy is rather fond of all his body parts and whatever shreds of dignity he still possesses, and he wouldn't put it past Rachel to get rid of both.

Three hours and a sore throat later, Percy sits down by the lake. Giggling naiads bat their eyelashes at him (they're the flirtiest beings in existence at times) until he kicks at the water. One of them makes a very rude hand gesture in his direction as she swims away, but Percy really can't care less.

And- Lo and behold -now that Percy's given up finding Nico as a lost cause, Nico sits next to him and steals the candy he's eating. Typical.

"Where ya been?" Nico asks, munching on the gummy worms Percy always brings with him when he decides to think by the lake. Percy gives him a Look, and Nico says, "What?" as though he hasn't purposefully been hiding from Percy all day. The logical side of Percy's brain says he hasn't, but the bigger, more annoyed part tells Logic to shut up.

"I've been looking for you," Percy says. "Where have _you_ been?"

Nico looks confused. "I've been in my cabin all day," which is a total lie, because there's _absolutely_ _no way_ Percy is stupid enough not to think of looking for Nico in the Hades cabin. No way whatsoever.

"Anyway," Nico adds, "I'm here now, so what did you want?"

Suddenly, Percy finds himself at a loss for words. Him being unable to find how to tell Nico his… _news_ is obviously the will of the gods, so Percy doesn't need to answer the question, right? Then Percy remembers Rachel, and finds he is able to speak again.

"There's something I wanted to tell you," he begins, then stops, because how do you tell someone who's got every girl in the Aphrodite cabin swooning after him (as well as a few guys) that his best friend has joined their ranks? The fifteen year old son of Hades just gives him a look that's somewhere between confused and amused. Percy tries again: "It's just... I kinda... Ikindareallymightlikeyou."

Nico frowns. "What?"

Percy swallows and tries again, slowly this time. "I... I kinda really might... like you."

Nico's face breaks into a grin and he laughs. Percy's heart sinks. This is what he was afraid of.

Nico apparently sees his face and sobers slightly, although he's still grinning. "I'm not laughing at you, don't worry. Well, I am, but not for the reason you think. It's just..." Nico bites his lip to keep himself from laughing. "I've kinda known for about a month now."

Percy goes into shock ever so slightly at this, and decides that maybe, just maybe, he's crap at being subtle. Nico laughs again. "You should see your face," he says, popping another gummy worm into his mouth.

Percy builds up the remains of his courage (a pity the Styx didn't give him more of that) and asks, "And?"

Nico rolls his eyes. "You don't honestly think I mind, do you?" he says, then pauses. "Well, don't try to flirt with me, 'cause you're crap at that too. But seriously, I won't mind if you ask me out. Actually, I order you to take me on a date. Tonight. There**,** that's settled."

Nico seems so proud of himself that Percy has to laugh. Nico grins back, and Percy decides that it _is_ a beautiful day in Camp Half-Blood after all.

oOo

_**A/N: **__Yeeeaaah... G-ratings aren't really my thing. Unfortunately, this piece refused to go above that, so there ya go. Review constructively please. Hell, even flames are good. Does it count as PG if I curse __slightly__ in the author's note?_


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